Jesus the Provider

Because we have Jesus, we will always have everything we need to do exactly what he tells us to do.

Note: This transcript was auto generated and may have errors.

[00:00:00] Well, I’ve been really struck by the timing of our passage in light of the announcements that we made just a couple of weeks ago that were making some changes this fall to better accommodate the explosive growth of our church over these last couple of years. If you missed that beginning September 8th, we’ll be adding another service on Sunday morning. So they will be at eight and nine, 30 and 11. Awana is going to move to Thursday nights to accommodate growth for both the youth group and Awana so they can expand. And we’re beginning a future fund that will use as the Holy Spirit directs us in future planning. And this week, as I was preparing this this sermon on provision, I was talking to a friend who is a part of our church here, and he asked a really great question. He asked if we would ever consider just simply capping our ministry and saying that we’ve reached our size limit and determining at that point not to grow. Uh, which, by the way, is a is a good question because it’s a question of resources. This is a question about what what we have building resources, human resources. Do we have what we need in order to scale and to expand. And there’s nothing wrong with looking at what we have and asking the question how best to use it. That’s just good stewardship. But to the question of whether we would cap our our church and determine that there’s no more room for new people because of resources, the answer to that question will always be a very hard no, no, we will not do that.

[00:01:47] And the reasons we wouldn’t do that are biblical. Those biblical reasons for that. The fact is that the mission of the church isn’t determined by us. We don’t decide what the church does. Jesus tells his church what we are to do. The way we phrase Jesus mission for us here at Calvary is that Calvary exists to glorify God by making disciples of Jesus, who live out a passion for Christ and a compassion for people. Our five core values are to love lost people, to make disciples, to gather together for worship, and to develop healthy leaders and healthy families. So if you’re doing that, if you’re sharing the gospel with people who who need to know Jesus and don’t yet know him, and we’re making disciples, we’re growing people up and we’re gathering together for worship. Well, those people need more resources. They need resources. They need a chair in this room increasingly hard to come by. They need a chair in this room. They need a small group to join. They need a cinnamon roll, right? I mean, that stretches the word need a little bit there, but I think I think we’d all agree. You get the idea, right? There’s there’s a need for these things, and the mission determines the resources.

[00:03:12] It’s never the other way around. It’s never the other way around. If Jesus tells us to go and make disciples, we can be sure he will provide everything we need to make those disciples, and it will absolutely stretch us to do that. It will stretch us. It’ll it’ll cause us to sacrifice. It won’t always be comfortable. It will require an all hands on deck mentality with people using their gifts and the way God is. Uh uh, gifted them to give back and to edify their church, to fulfill the mission of Christ in His church. And God will provide. God will provide for his mission. And in the process of carrying us forward and providing for his mission, he will strengthen our faith like fire tempering steel. Will become followers of Christ, who are stronger because of what Christ will take us to in his mission. All of these questions about the future and what’s coming next are really questions of provision. Since we know that everything that we have comes from the hand of the Lord, all questions about the future really are inquiries about what God will provide, what what is, what is coming next from his hand? What is the what is the Lord lining up for us? And if he if the answers to those questions don’t come quickly or they don’t come, obviously, then we then we have to wrestle with the with anxiety and try to try to figure out what God is teaching us through it.

[00:04:43] Because because he is teaching us. There’s no question like the Lord is teaching us through everything. One of the beautiful things about trusting in the sovereignty of God is that we know everything he has for us. As the Apostle Paul put it, everything is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory. Everything you experience, everything we go through, every, every trial, every sacrifice is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond anything that can be compared to everything we experience now is molding and conforming our souls into Christ’s likeness, so that we are prepared for an eternity with Christ. That the things in the world that seem very important to us. But, but, but here’s the thing. Those things, they’re just training. There’s so many things that seem important to us, but they are they are training life. Life, all of life is like a cross training program, getting us ready for eternity with Christ. Everything God provides for us, whether it’s for today or in the future, is making us ready for eternity with Jesus. And with that in mind, we’re going to look today at Jesus the provider, in what might be the the most well known, the most famous story of Jesus provision other than the cross. So the cross certainly is the the most famous story of Jesus provision.

[00:06:05] But this one, this one’s pretty up there in the list. It’s the moment when Jesus takes five loaves and two fish and feeds everyone who has come to hear him preach the kingdom of God. You know the story, I say five loaves and two fish. You automatically know where we’re going, right? You know, you know that story. Everybody knows that story very well. It’s an expansion. This, this, this account is an expansion on the missions principles that we saw last week. Jesus sent the disciples out with no food, as you’ll remember to, to show them that he would provide for them during their entire ministry. And this week, we’ll see Jesus demonstrate that ability to provide in a dramatic display of his power. And the main point of our passage today is, is fairly simple, and it’s very profound. Because we have Jesus, we’ll always have everything we need for everything he asks us to do. Because we have him. We’ll always have everything we need for everything that he asks us to do. What Israel learned in the wilderness when God gave them manna from the sky and water from the rock, is that though they appeared to be in need, they actually had everything they need because they had the Lord Jesus, who is the Lord, is going to show us that he’s the Lord, basically by doing a remake of the original manna event. He’s saying, if you’re with me, if you’re if you’re connected to me, if I’m with you, you’ll never have to worry about anything else

[00:07:46] So before we get to that beginning of that story, which begins in verse ten of chapter nine, if you have your Bibles, you can open to Luke chapter nine. And the story of the loaves and fishes begins in in verse ten. But before we get there, we have a little snippet of a different story that’s developing. So after we look at that briefly, we’ll get into this miracle provision that Jesus performs. Here’s here’s the little snippet. Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen. And Herod said, John I beheaded. But who is this about whom I hear such things? And he sought to see him. You know how sometimes when you’re watching the news on television, they a reporter will come on and say, this is a developing story, and we’ll let you know more when we have an update. Okay. Well, that’s what’s happening here in Scripture. This is a developing story. We’ve already seen Herod’s interest in Jesus to this point. And yet here’s one more moment where we’re told that Herod is interested in seeing Jesus. Herod’s going to be mentioned a few more times before his story concludes just before Jesus death in the book of Luke.

[00:09:08] Uh, it’s it’s suffice to say, Jesus is way less interested in meeting Herod than Herod is in meeting Jesus. Uh, that that is that is a fact. At one point, Jesus calls him a fox, which is not a good thing in his day. Uh, they didn’t they did not have mutual admiration. All right. But the one thing in this little update, in this little snippet, I’ll point out for our purposes this morning, is that there’s still a lot of speculation about who Jesus is. Now, Jesus has been doing all kinds of miracles and healings and and things have been happening. And at this point, there’s still speculation. How can Jesus do these things that he’s doing, do these miracles, make him a prophet or something more than a prophet? Does he merely speak for God or is he God? Some of the Pharisees try to assign Jesus miracles to satanic powers because they know if if he’s doing this in God’s power, then that would be bad news for everybody who is not with Jesus, including themselves. And the question to all of us is, who do you say Jesus is? Who is he to you when you look at him? When you look at his miracles, when you look at all that he accomplished and all that he has accomplished for the last 2000 years, who do you say Jesus is? Peter will be asked that question directly in our passage next week, so we’ll wrestle with it more then.

[00:10:33] But for this morning, I want to point out that Jesus miracles are indications of what the answer to that question should be. And if a man is able to do only the things that the Lord himself can do, then that should tell us something about that man. With that in mind, let’s look at what Jesus does next. On their return, the apostles told him all they had done, and he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them, and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and cured those who had need of healing. So the teams of two that Jesus sent out, as we looked at in our passage last week, they’ve come back and they’re reporting on all that they have accomplished. By the way, that is a pattern that we see throughout Scripture. When missionaries are sent out, they do their work. They come back to the sending church, and they report on what they’ve done. And this is one of the reasons that we here at Calvary have missionaries who travel. And then they come back and we have them up here on the stage, and they report about what’s happening in the field.

[00:11:43] That’s part of worship, is sharing in the accomplished accomplishments of of ministry together. And so Jesus, here’s everything that these guys did. And he says, all right, let’s go and take a rest in Bethsaida, because they’re probably hungry and tired at this point. Ministry will do that to you, by the way, especially when you’re relying on other people to take care of you. Uh, so let’s go. Let’s go get rested up. Let’s take a little hiatus, and then we’ll get back to work. But it doesn’t work out that way. See, the crowd follows Jesus around, and they hear about what he’s doing, and they follow Jesus. And Jesus, of course, welcomes the crowd. And he he starts teaching and healing again because he’s Jesus. And that’s just what he does. When when there’s people that want him and need him, he he gets to work. And so that’s the setup. That’s the that’s the context of our of our account here. There are faithful, tired group trying to withdraw, but they’re pressed back into action and they’re not upset about it. They’re not upset. This wasn’t planned. But you know, they didn’t mean for ministry to happen this way, but they’re willing to do ministry. And this sets up, uh, the sets us up to understand the problem that arises now. The day began to wear away, and the 12 came and said to him, send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions.

[00:13:18] For we are here in a desolate place. You see how they never made it to Bethsaida? They’re out in the wilderness somewhere, probably a central point from the surrounding villages. And the disciples, who are themselves, at this point tired and hungry, want Jesus to dismiss the crowd so that they can go home and they can get something to eat. And for those who are who have traveled far from their homes to see Jesus, those folks are probably going to need to find lodging as well. And with the day coming to a close and the sun is going down, you can kind of picture it right. The sun’s going down. It’s been a long day of teaching. This is a very thoughtful, a very prudent, very normal plan of action. Any one of us might have come up with this, this plan of action. I don’t know how many of you have ever been to a Bible conference, but I’ll tell you, no matter how good the teaching is, at some point you start losing focus. It could be great teaching, but you just oh wow, this is a very long day because when you get hungry and tired, it could be John Piper up there and you’re looking around at your watch and you’re trying to figure some way to slip out of this thing. I’ve skipped out of entire sessions at a Bible conference.

[00:14:28] I’m a pastor. I’m supposed to love these things, right? And I’ve slipped out because my brain was full and my body was fried. And they always stack them. They always. It’s always like four main sessions in three breakouts. And all I want to do is break out. Actually, it’s really is they get very, very long. And I suppose there’s a limit because we’re humans, right. Where there’s a, there’s a limit on how much we can actually take in and accomplish in a day. And even if you’re listening to Jesus, there’s a limit, apparently. And the disciples know that, and they know that this area doesn’t have what the people need. And so they ask Jesus to dismiss them and the crowds. Makes sense. But Jesus tosses the problem back to the disciples. He said to them, you give them something to eat. Now let’s stop for a moment and take in the audacity of that answer. Okay, that is ridiculous. These disciples were called by Jesus from their jobs into a ministry where they receive no pay at all. Do you remember when we read about the the back in chapter eight, there was this group of women who were the disciples who who provided for them out of their means. That means the disciples couldn’t provide from themselves in a different way other than in their ministry. They were reliant on the ministry to take care of them.

[00:15:56] And then. Then Jesus trained them up and he sent them out on ministry. And do you remember he said, don’t even take anything along with you. Don’t take any food with you. You’re going to just you’re just going to trust that they’re going to be people out there who would hear the gospel, and they’re going to take you in and they’re going to provide for you. They were they were completely dependent on the kindness of strangers that Jesus said would be there. So what on earth could Jesus possibly expect from these guys when he says, you give them something to eat in a desolate place where there are there are no resources? Jesus loves teachable moments. He loves them every chance. Anytime somebody says something to him, he’s got a way that he wants to shape, a way he wants to mold our minds. And so he loves teachable moments just like this. So what is he teaching now? What? What would have been the right answer to this challenge? Because the disciples don’t give the right answer. We’re going to see that here in just a minute. Okay. All right. But but what? But what would have been the right response here? Because whatever it should be gives us the mentality of the disciple that Jesus wants us to be. So let’s put ourselves in those shoes, okay? Just for a moment, let’s just think about it.

[00:17:15] That we’re the disciples and we’re there, and we’ve been there all day, and we’re in the wilderness and there’s nothing around. And Jesus says this to let’s let’s be those disciples for just a minute. We have left everything. We don’t have anything in our pockets. And we’re in the we’re in the wilderness, not our hometown. We don’t have any extended family that we can reach out to at this point. But you know what? You know what? So far, every issue has been solved by Jesus. Have you noticed this, guys? Every issue has been solved by Jesus. Remember? Remember when when that widow’s son died and she wasn’t going to have anything to support herself for the future? What did Jesus do? Jesus brought that boy back to life and gave him back to his mom so that she would have the support that she needed. You remember when when we fished all night and we didn’t catch anything? You remember that guys, when it was a really long night and we fished all night, we caught nothing. And then we got to the shore and Jesus made us go back out there. He’s not even a fisherman. He’s a carpenter. He plays a whole different sport. And yet here we are out on the lake. And what did we do? We couldn’t. We couldn’t haul in all the fish that came into the boat. Do you remember that? You remember when he kicked off that big sermon by saying, blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

[00:18:39] I don’t know about you, but I was. I was hungry then and now. But Jesus seems to be saying that when we’re in his kingdom, we will always be satisfied. And, you know, when he sent us out on that and he told us to leave our bread and our money behind, remember he sent us on the missionary journey. He said, leave it all behind because people were going to take us in. And he was right. He knew that was going to happen. He was right. We had everything we needed, just like he said, we we are able to do exactly the ministry that he’s been doing. We’ve been casting out demons, healing people, preaching the gospel. We’re doing all of that right now. And now he’s telling us to give them something to eat, like we’re like we’re able to provide for for people just like he provides for people. Guys, I think we can do it. I think we can do this. I think Jesus is going to use us to provide for all these people who are here. All right. Jesus, what do we do? I don’t know if that’s the answer he was looking for, but I think that was the expectation. I think the miracle Jesus does next is exactly what he planned to do, including his disciples involvement, which we’re going to see in just a moment here.

[00:19:58] But what he wanted was for these disciples to own the challenge. He wanted them to own the challenge. This was a this was a moment when they could have taken their next big step of growth. This was this was the moment when they could have stepped up into their role as the extension of Jesus power, trusting that they could do exactly what Jesus wanted them to do in ministry because Jesus was going to provide for them. Here’s what they actually did with that opportunity. They said, we have no more than five loaves and two fish unless we are able to go and buy food for all these people, for there were about 5000 men. What did they do? What did they do with their opportunity? Well, they they present Jesus with two reasons why they can’t do it. We can’t do it. Here’s the two reasons. And here’s the thing. They’re not unreasonable reasons. The sort of reasons that you and I would come up with. They’re perfectly understandable. If you come to my house this afternoon and you say, Kyle, I would like a turkey dinner, I’m going to take you over to my refrigerator. I’m going to open it up and show you there’s no turkey in there. It’s not November. Nobody eats turkey in May. From a dollars and cents of food availability. Practical standpoint, the two reasons that the disciples come up with make every bit of sense in this.

[00:21:26] In this story, the first reason is that they don’t have enough food. They have five loaves and two fish that wouldn’t feed my son right now, let alone 5000 people and their families now, now, now, I know that we are conditioned when we hear the phrase five loaves and two fish. I know that in your mind, as soon as I say that, I know that in your mind you are beginning to picture a little boy bringing his meager lunch up to Jesus because of his tremendous faith. I know that Flannelgraph and VeggieTales taught us that the purpose of this story was the faith of a little boy, this little engine that could that came up to Jesus. But friends, I want to tell you something. In the four places in Scripture where this story is recorded, that little boy never appears in the action. He never appears in three of the Gospels. He’s not even mentioned at all. And in the Gospel of John he’s only referred to by Andrew with no reference to that boy’s faith, or even his willingness to offer up his lunch for this moment. For all we know, that boy didn’t want to give his lunch to Jesus. I’m not saying that he didn’t. I’m not saying that Jesus didn’t wrestle it from his kung fu grip or something like that.

[00:22:45] Right? I’m not saying that, but what I am saying is that this loaf and these, these loaves and that and that fish has always been the reason why the disciples can’t do what Jesus is asking them to do. That’s how the food serves in the story. We can’t do it because this is it. This is all that’s there. The second unworkable solution is the idea that they’d have to go into the village and buy food for all these people, that they’d have to go there and do it themselves. The way it’s phrased here, it’s clear that the disciples aren’t actually suggesting that they go buy food for all these people. They’re just coming up with a scenario that’s so unworkable that it will show how reasonable their suggestion is by comparison. So let me summarize their argument for why they can’t do what Jesus is asking them to do is that they don’t currently have what they need, and there’s no reasonable way to get what they need. Do you see that? We don’t have it and we can’t get it? Jesus, I can’t be faithful to do what you’ve asked me to do because I. I don’t have what’s necessary in my hand right now, and there’s no way to get it. See? Present and future. Jesus, I can’t do what you’re asking me to do. It’s impossible. Now, I can’t be too hard on them because I probably would have responded in the same way.

[00:24:13] This this sounds like me, actually. Pessimists say it can’t be done. Realists say, here’s what’s possible based on what’s true. Optimists say, let’s give it a try. Let’s see what we can do. But this really isn’t this, this, this moment really isn’t about the inclination of your heart or what’s or what’s possible in the world, or your character, or how how God has built your mind. See, pessimists and optimists both think only about what is possible for men and women. And that’s not what this is about. This is about what’s possible for Jesus. Do you see? Do you see Jesus correctly? Do you do you see him correctly? Do you understand him? Do you do you see yourself as an extension of Jesus ministry in the world? Do you see yourself that way? See, when when Jesus commands us to go to do ministry, to represent him, to to to live with such sacrifice and dedication that that we reflect the cross of Jesus. Our first question shouldn’t be, can I accomplish this with what I have? Can I accomplish this with what I own? It should be? What can Christ accomplish through me by His Spirit? Because that’s what’s going to be accomplished. That’s what that’s what God wants to do in us. And Jesus meets their argument precisely at that point. And he said to his disciples, have them sit down in groups of about 50 each.

[00:25:44] And they did so, and had them all sit down. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up 12 baskets of broken pieces. So Jesus takes the loaves and the fish. The very things that the disciples said were insufficient, and he makes them sufficient. He makes them sufficient. He takes the bread and the fish, and he gives them to the disciples to give out to the crowd. Now I believe that is the way it was always going to happen, even even though the disciples failed to step up in faithfulness. Jesus graciously includes them and makes them faithful to his command. And that’s really comforting to me. It’s really comforting to me to see Jesus using disciples even when they drop the ball, even when they’re slow to trust. And then when they’re done, they gather up 12 baskets of leftovers, which has got to be one of the most vivid depictions of Jesus provision ever. Like I said earlier, short of the cross, there isn’t really a miracle that makes this point so clearly. And the power and perspective of the disciples. Okay, in the power and in the perspective of the disciples, there was not enough.

[00:27:14] Faithfulness was impossible. The people would need to leave to provide for themselves. But in the power and perspective of Jesus, there is far more than enough. Faithfulness is all that is needed, and the people would only need to stay near Jesus to have everything that they need. They don’t have to disperse from Christ. They need to come to Christ. Now, I could be wrong, but I think that the presence of the 12 baskets of food here at the end of this meal, once everybody is full, is a lesson for the disciples 12 baskets, 12 disciples. I think they all stand around going, okay, guys, everybody grab a basket. We got to drag this to Bethsaida, right? It seems like a clear matchup there. I don’t know that that’s the reason why 12 is is is the number of the baskets. But I can say for sure that the abundance of food left over with the with the disciples there, they thought that that that bread and that fish wasn’t enough. This now is a clear indication not to doubt Jesus commands ever again. Don’t doubt him ever again. Jesus doesn’t just give the direction he supplies the power. We don’t look to ourselves to do ministry. We look to Jesus. We don’t look at what’s in our hands or what we can get our own, or even always what makes sense from a worldly perspective. When the problems arise, we look to Jesus church.

[00:28:50] This is why, as we enter a season of expansion, I have every confidence that we should lean hard into ministry. We should lean hard into ministry. We should be bold in our approach and fully trust that the Lord will supply for every need. Let. Let’s never become the church that looks only at what we can’t do, based on our perceived limitations and our own resources. Let’s let’s never limit or curtail the mission to reach lost people and make disciples, because it’s Jesus mission. It’s his instruction to us. It’s his command. The one who sets the mission supplies the mission. Without fail. This morning we are together going to celebrate communion. This is Jesus ordained, regular reminder of his great provision. I want to invite the musicians to come join me here on the stage in front, and I would invite the ushers to come forward as we prepare. Communion is the celebration of Jesus most important provision to us. When Jesus provided bread to the people that day in the wilderness, he hadn’t yet told his disciples that the bread shared together would eventually remind them of his sacrifice. But now when we picture Jesus multiplying bread and providing for all those hungry people, we can’t help but see allusions to Jesus divine, miraculous provision of salvation when he broke his body and when he shed his blood. Communion here at Calvary is a time when we invite all of you who trust in Jesus provision of salvation to join us in eating and drinking, remembering what Jesus did to satisfy our our longing and hungry souls.

[00:30:36] If you don’t yet trust in Jesus, if you haven’t yet, put your faith in the life giving salvation that only Jesus provides. We’d ask you not to take the bread and the cup this morning, but to use this time to think about those things. But I would add, what’s stopping you? What what’s standing in your way from from reaching out to Christ? There is a hunger in the soul of every man and woman. I know you feel it. Everybody. Everybody feels it. That hunger is to be made right with the Lord, to have your sins removed and to receive his grace. And you can do that this morning. You can do that right now. You can turn from your sin. You can stop feeding your hungry soul with with earthly things and empty philosophies that will never give you the satisfaction that you long for. And that’s because you were made only to be satisfied in Christ. That’s how God designed you. You’re made to only be satisfied in Jesus. And you can have that this morning. If you confess your sin and admit your need and reach out to Christ, who is our bread of life. As you serve. Please feel free to eat and drink when you’re ready. Let’s pray.